System with refrigerator and self-reporting container

ABSTRACT

A refrigerator is provided with a container for storing a substance and that has a sensing and reporting system configured to determine an attribute of the substance within the container. The sensing and reporting system includes a sensor configured to sense the attribute of the substance, a transmitter, and a processor in communication with the sensor and the transmitter.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/256,502, filed Oct. 23, 2008, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a method of inventory management usingcontainer-based sensors for determining an attribute of a substance andfor selectively introducing and activating self-reporting containers forparticipating in an inventory management system.

BACKGROUND

There are numerous containers of various types configured to store allmatter of substances. However, determining the amount of the substancestored in the container, which is often useful to know, may be difficultto ascertain. Containers that can self-report the amount of theircontents could save significant amounts of manual measuring orguesswork. Additionally, many secondary applications may be availablefrom having a system of containers that self-report the amounts of theircontents.

In a kitchen environment, knowing the amount of container contents, suchas food, can facilitate more informed food consumption and food purchasedecisions. In a household kitchen, particularly when children haveaccess to the kitchen, it may be difficult to regulate or keep track ofthe removal of food substances from containers. In a commercial kitchenincluding multiple food preparers rapidly preparing dishes in astressful environment, the task of tracking the amounts of foodsubstances in numerous containers can be even more challenging.

In a laboratory environment, chemicals, and the like, may requiredetailed usage tracking. For instance, the substances may be expensiveor hazardous. Such usage tracking may require careful removal andmeasuring of the substance and a recordation of the amount removed in alogbook.

Without accurate inventory determinations, maintaining inventory levelsmay be an ad hoc process. In one approach, inventory trends may belearned over time. However, any identified trends may be upset byunexpected usage. Accordingly, a device to accurately report the amountof a substance stored in a container at any given time may be useful inan inventory system.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect of the invention, a system includes arefrigerator, a container within the refrigerator for storing asubstance and having a sensing and reporting system configured todetermine an attribute of the substance within the container, whereinthe sensing and reporting system includes a sensor configured to sensethe attribute of the substance, a transmitter, and a processor incommunication with the sensor and the transmitter, and a remote devicein communication with the transmitter of the sensing and reportingsystem, wherein, upon an access event at the container, the processor isconfigured to activate the sensor to sense the attribute of thesubstance and provide an indication of the sensed attribute to theprocessor and activate the transmitter to transmit the indication of thesensed attribute to the remote device.

According to another aspect of the invention, a system includes arefrigerator, a container within the refrigerator for storing asubstance and having a sensing and reporting system configured todetermine an attribute of the substance within the container, whereinthe sensing and reporting system includes a sensor configured to sensethe attribute of the substance, a transmitter, and a processor incommunication with the sensor and the transmitter, and a control unit incommunication with the transmitter of the sensing and reporting system,and comprising a visual display and a control interface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective partial view of a kitchen including arefrigerator and cabinets each holding numerous containers.

FIG. 2 is a partially schematic side, cut away view of a containerincluding an exemplary lid based device including an amount sensor.

FIG. 2A is a partially schematic side, cut away, exploded view of thecontainer of FIG. 2 including an exemplary lid based device including anamount sensor showing the lid removed from the container.

FIG. 3 is a partially schematic side, cut away, exploded view of acontainer including an alternate exemplary lid based device includingmultiple amount sensors.

FIG. 4 is a partially schematic side, cut away view of an alternativeexemplary lid based amount sensor including additional modules.

FIG. 5 is a partially schematic side, cut away view of an exemplary lidbased amount sensor included as a removable component.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart depicting exemplary steps and procedures relatedto an inventory management system that provides notifications based onthe user ID and the amount of substance stored in a container.

FIG. 7A is a flowchart depicting exemplary steps and procedures relatedto a medication management system that provides notifications based onthe user ID and the amount of medication stored in a container.

FIG. 7B is a flowchart similar to FIG. 7A but depicting exemplary stepsand procedures related to a medication management system that providesnotifications based on user identification, dosage information andreminders to take medicine;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart depicting exemplary steps and procedures relatedto a dietary management system that provides notifications based on theuser ID and the amount of a foodstuff stored in a container.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart depicting exemplary steps and procedures relatedto an inventory management system that provides notifications basedamounts of the substance that are reserved for a future use.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart depicting exemplary steps and procedures relatedto an inventory management system that calculates usage rates andreplenishment dates.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart depicting exemplary steps and procedures relatingto an inventory management system interacting with a user interface.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart depicting exemplary steps in activating acontainer filled with the substance at the time of introduction into theuse environment.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart depicting exemplary steps in activating acontainer to which a transmitter is added at the use environment.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart depicting exemplary steps in activating acontainer to which a transmitter is added at the time of addingsubstance, which is not necessarily introduced immediately into the useenvironment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Container based sensors that are configured to provide an indication ofthe amount of a substance may facilitate inventory managementprocedures. Accordingly, exemplary sensing devices are describedimmediately below followed by descriptions of inventory managementprocedures.

As used herein, a substance is any useful material that can be stored ina container. A consumable substance is a substance that may be stored invarying amounts in containers and may be partially dispensed or removedfrom the container over a period of time. An attribute of a substance isany information about a substance, including measurable andnon-measurable information about the substance that can be stored forlater retrieval, including but not limited to its physical or chemicalproperties, its impact upon its environment, and its amount.

Non-measurable attributes are attributes about the substance that may bestored with the substance or with the container of the substance,whether the attributes would or would not have been measurable by anappropriate sensor. Examples of non-measurable attributes includequantity of consumable pieces, quantity by volume or by weight, date ofmanufacture, manufacturer, data about its transit from manufacturer,distributor, market, and consumer, data about the temperature duringtransit, nutritional information like calories, fat grams, dailyallowance of essential vitamins and minerals, a list of medicalconditions under which a consumable should not be consumed, data aboutthe relationship between the Consumable Meta Data and known diets, knownmedical conditions, and known reactions to known medications, and thelike.

Attributes may be determined by a single measurement or may be derivedfrom multiple measurements, such as measurements of multiple types,measurements taken at multiple locations or measurements taken atmultiple times and may reflect static conditions, such as temperature orquantity, or dynamic conditions such as change, rate of change, orchange in rate of change.

Amount attributes are attributes directly reflecting the amount of thesubstance available for future use including weight, volume, mass,height, and count. An attribute indicative of the amount are attributesthat may be used or processed to infer or calculate the amount ofsubstance, such as the vapor pressure in a container, the lighttransmissivity or electrical inductance, capacitance, resistance,reactance, or impedance of the substance. An attribute of theenvironment is any characteristic of the environment inside of thecontainer, the environment outside of the container, or of the containeritself.

As used herein, information or data includes any stored information,such as genealogical and life cycle information, relating to thesubstance, the container, the manufacturer, the environment, the user orusers. Information may be measurable or non-measurable, event based,historical, or identifier information.

Since there can be a plurality of containers, each with a substance,there may need to be a unique identifier identifying each container oreach substance that may be paired with an attribute measurement of asubstance so that the value of the measurement can be uniquelyidentified per its meaning at a later time and by subsequent intelligentprocesses. Such identifier may be associated with the substance, thecontainer, the sensor, or the transmitter and such association may occurat the time of creation or assembly of the components, the time of firstadding substance to the container, or the time of introducing thecontainer to a system using a plurality of containers. The identifiermay also be dynamically generated, for example, from one or moremeasurable and non-measurable attributes.

Similarly, since there may be a plurality of attributes applicable to asubstance, attributes may need to be uniquely identifiable so that whena collection of attributes each having a value is either stored ortransmitted, each respective value is paired with its attributeidentifier so that the value can be uniquely identified per its meaningat a later time and by a subsequent intelligent process. In the simplestcase, where there is only an amount attribute, the system may assumethat all values are amount values with an inherent attribute identifierwith the meaning of amount.

A container of substance is any container capable of temporarily holdingan amount of substance.

A lid is a feature of any container which may be opened to permit orimprove access to the substance in the container. A dispenser is anyfeature of a container which permits or drives the active or passivefilling of substance into the container or which permits or drives theactive dispensing of substance from the container. A main body of acontainer is any portion of the container which is not a lid ordispenser. A portable container is a container that is intended to beperiodically manually moved within a use environment during itslifetime.

A sensor is any active or passive device capable of obtaininginformation in a form which may be either actively or passivelycommunicated to another device for use by the other device. Acommunication of information is the delivery of information from a firstdevice to a second device either by the active transmission from thefirst device to the second device or by the reading of the second deviceby the first device. A transmitter is any device which wirelesslycommunicates information to other devices using any form of active orpassive transmission including optical or electromagnetic waves.

A triggering event is an event used as an input by a system to begin aprocess. An access device of a container is any feature of a containerthat permits access to the substance, including any lid or dispenser. Atriggering event relating to a container may be an access event, asdefined herein, or alternatively any other physical or virtual eventrelating to the container or its contents, including expiration, pendingor projected expiration, scheduled or projected use in a recipe,scheduled or projected consumption, such as for use in recipe, Examplesof triggering events are execution of a firmware or software, opening acontainer, receiving a network message, a clock tick, a period of afunction like a sine wave, and the like.

An access event relating to a container of substance is any eventindicative of accessing the substance in a container such as an opening,closing, dispensing or filling event.

A local event, device, process or step is an event, device, process orstep existing or occurring in or about the container.

A remote event, device, process or step is an event, device, process orstep existing or occurring remote from the container.

A notification is specific information derived from a system which is avalue to a user or to an observing computer program on a remote device.A notification event is an event resulting in the immediate availabilityof information to a user or the delivery of information to a user, suchas audible announcement, a visible display on a user interface, acommunication to phone or other portable consumer electronic device, ora notification message either broadcast on at least one computer networkor directed to at least one computer containing a software componentconfigured to receive the notification.

As used herein, a container system member is any identifiable physicalcomponent or subsystem of a container and its contents, including thecontainer, the lid of a container, a sensor, a transmitter, a datasetaffixed directly or indirectly to the container, and a substance withinthe container. Container system data is any data or attribute of acontainer system member.

Power and energy include any form of power or energy usable by a devicefor performing an operation and includes electrical, mechanical andchemical power. A power generator is any device capable of generating ausable form of power or energy. A power converter is any device capableof converting one form of power to another such as converting chemicalpower to electrical power, or converting AC electrical power to DCelectrical power.

As used herein, inventory management includes any system, device orapparatus useful to support the acquisition, storage, use, disposal, andreplenishment of consumable substances in a storage and use environment.

Association is the creation of a physical or virtual relationshipbetween two physical or virtual elements, such as the physicalconnection between two physical components or the virtual association ina database of an attribute of a physical element with another attributeor with an identifier.

Activation is any step in the preparation of any physical or virtualcomponent for participation in an inventory system. Activation of acontainer includes, for example, the preparation of a container to beself reporting for use in an inventory system or the initiation ofcommunication between the container and a data processing system.Activation of a data processing system for an inventory system includes,for example, the initiation communication between the data processingsystem and a container of substance or the creation of a recordassociated with the container or the substance in the data processingsystem. Activation includes the association of a container with asubstance or the association of either with an identifier, anotification trigger rule or a user ID. Activation may include localprocess steps at a container, local process steps at a data processingsystem remote from the container, steps involving communication withdata systems remote from both the container and the data processingsystem, or combinations thereof.

Referring now to the drawings, preferred embodiments of the presentinvention are shown in detail. Although the drawings representembodiments of the present invention, the drawings are not necessarilyto scale and certain features may be exaggerated to better illustrateand explain the present invention. The embodiments set forth herein arenot intended to be exhaustive or otherwise limit the invention to theprecise forms disclosed in the following detailed description.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2, and 2A, a storage and consumptionenvironment such as a kitchen 10, may include a refrigerator 12 andcabinetry 14 that may each hold a plurality of containers 16. Theexemplary kitchen 10 could have additional cupboards and pantriesholding additional containers 16. Containers 16 may be enclosed in astorage unit, such as a refrigerator 12 or in the cabinetry 14, or maybe in an unconfined location, such as the depiction of a container 16 ontop of refrigerator 12. Containers 16 generally include a lid 18 forenclosing a substance 30 being contained. The lid 18 may also provide asensing and reporting system 20. Sensing and reporting system 20 may beconfigured to determine an attribute of the substance such as the amountof substance 30 that is contained in container 16. Moreover, in anenvironment, such as kitchen 10 with multiple containers 16, eachcontainer 16 may independently determine the amount of substance 30contained therein, for example, through sensing and reporting device 20disposed in a respective lid 18 of container 16.

The manufacture of containers 16 which can self-report data about theircontents is contemplated. Specific embodiments of self-reportingcontainers 16, as well as some additional related components, methodsand features will now be described. Other examples of self-reportingcontainers are described in the following related patent publications:U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0101317, entitled “LIDBASED AMOUNT SENSOR”, U.S. Pat. No. 8,477,029, entitled “MODULARATTRIBUTE SENSING DEVICE,” U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2010/0106624, entitled “METHOD OF INVENTORY MANAGEMENT,” U.S. Pat. No.7,933,733, entitled “ATTRIBUTE SENSING PROCESSES,” U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2010/0106626, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHODFOR TRACKING INVENTORY HISTORY,” U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2010/0106625, entitled “INVENTORY COMPONENT ACTIVATION,” U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2010/0106521, entitled “CONSUMABLESINVENTORY MANAGEMENT METHOD,” and U.S. Patent Application PublicationNo. 2010/0102930, entitled “INTRODUCTION OF A SELF-REPORTING PORTABLECONTAINER INTO AN INVENTORY SYSTEM,” each of which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

In general, a container 16 may be manufactured and configured withsensing and reporting system 20.

The sensing and reporting system may include analog or digitalcomponentry which is able to determine information about a substance 30or information associated with a substance like amount, temperature, andthe like. In particular, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 2A a sensing andreporting system 20 may include sensing apparatus, such as a sensor 34,and reporting apparatus, such as a transmitter 36.

It should be noted that the sensing apparatus may be provided with themain body of a container 16 or with the lid 18, or with a dispensingapparatus, not shown. The container 16 may be filled at the facilitywhere it is manufactured or where it is first associated with thesensing and reporting apparatus 20 or it may be shipped to anotherfacility for filling. At some point during the manufacturing ordistribution process, the container 16 or the container's sensing andreporting system 20 is associated with at least one identifier. Theidentifier may be a globally unique identifier like a UUID, a bar code,a serial number, a substance identifier, or a multiplicity ofidentifiers which together characterize at least one of the container,the substance, and attributes thereof. If the container has compartmentsfor more than one substance, then an identifier may be associated witheach compartment or with the substances in each compartment. Once thecontainer 16, the substance 30, and the sensing and reporting apparatus20 are united, the container is configured to determine and selectivelyreport the identifiers and the information.

The reporting and sensing system 20 is configured with rules whichdictate the conditions on which the reporting apparatus and or thesensing apparatus are active. When active, the reporting apparatustransmits the information to an information destination. When active,the sensing apparatus determines information about a substance 30.

Sensing and reporting may be continuous or event (trigger) based. Ifcontinuous, the sensor continuously senses information about thesubstance and the reporting apparatus continuously transmits informationto an information destination. If triggered, the sensor senses when thetriggering rule is activated.

An exemplary triggering rule may be an access event as defined above.The reporting apparatus may use the same triggering rule, a differenttriggering rule, or may be triggered by another electrical mechanismlike a digital input signal or an analog comparator circuit. Generally,when information about a substance is reported, it is reported withother information where the other information is the at least oneidentifier.

Referring again to FIGS. 2 and 2A, in addition to the sensing apparatus,such as a sensor 34, and reporting apparatus, such as a transmitter 36the sensing and reporting system 20, may include a power source 38, aprocessor 40, and at least one element of data 42. Sensor 34, processor40, and transmitter 36 may be communicatively coupled. In one exemplaryapproach, sensor 34, processor 40, and transmitter 36 may be separatephysical elements coupled by communication wires. However, otherexemplary approaches may include one or more of sensor 34, processor 40,transmitter 36, and power source 38 as a single physical element, suchas an integrated circuit.

The reporting apparatus may be digital componentry able to communicatethe information to an information destination. An informationdestination can be one which is external to the container or to aninformation storage device on the container or to a user interface onthe container.

It is advantageous to make the sensing and reporting system 20lightweight and compact in size. Transmitter and transceiver circuitryhas been reduced, for example for RFID tags, to devices as small as aquarter square millimeter (0.25 mm²) and as thin as five hundredths of amillimeter (0.05 mm). Such devices often include a radio-frequencycircuit, an antenna, a processor, memory in the form of ROM, a currentrectifying circuit and a power and/or synchronizing circuit, not shownin the drawing. For the amount sensing device 30, the processor 40 maybe the same processor as is used by the transmitter 36 or may be aseparate processor dedicated to the control of the sensor 34, theprocessing of the output of the sensor, and the communication with thetransmitter. The data 42 may be ROM memory only or may include some formof writable memory.

Another exemplary approach using an integrated circuit may includeMicro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS). MEMS, sometimes referred to asa system-on-a-chip could include the sensor 34, transmitter 36, powersource 38, and processor 40 all on a single silicon chip. Additionally,other sensors 56 and active devices 58, both discussed below, could beincluded. The circuit based elements may be produced on the silicon chipusing a traditional integrated circuit production method while themechanical components may be produced by a micromachining or etchingprocess. The small scale of a MEMS based device 20 may simplify theassociation of the device 20 with a container 16 and may reduce thepower consumption of the components.

Power source 38 may provide electrical power to sensor 34, processor 40,and transmitter 36 through electrical transmission wires connectedthereto.

Sensor 34 may include a sensing element and an output element to outputa reading of the sensing element. In one exemplary approach, outputelement may simply be the communication wires connecting sensor 34 toprocessor 40 and transmitter 36. However, in other exemplary approaches,output element may format or adapt the reading of sensing element priorto output. For instance, the output of sensing element may requireanalog to digital conversion which may be provided by an analog todigital converter of output element.

Sensing element of sensor 34 may be configured to sense the distance (Δ)between sensor 34 and a level 32 of substance 30. Sensor 34 of sensingand reporting device 20 may be attached to container 16 at a fixedreference point to provide consistent measurements of distance Δ. In oneexemplary approach, the reference point may be associated with lid 18.The reference point may represent the uppermost limit of level 32 suchas a fill line of container 16. The amount of substance 30 may bedetermined based on distance Δ in relation to the physical shape ofcontainer 16.

Sensor 34 may utilize any of a number of sensing techniques. In oneexemplary approach, sensor 34 employs an acoustic sensing technique. Theacoustic sensing technique may include an ultrasonic generator, anultrasonic receiver, a timer, and a processor. An ultrasonic pulse orplurality of pulses may be generated and directed at substance 30. Thepulse may reflect off the surface 32 of substance 30 and be collected bythe receiver. The timer may record the time between the generation andreception of the pulse. Distance Δ may be calculated based on therecorded time with respect to the speed of sound.

In another exemplary approach, sensor 34 may employ a capacitancesensing technique. The capacitance sensing technique provides a firstcapacitance plate and an electrical charge sensing element. Surfacelevel 32 of substance 30 acts as a second capacitance plate. The firstplate is charged to create an electrostatic field. The field is affectedby distance Δ to surface level 32 in a manner that may be perceived bythe sensing element. The sensed difference in the field may be used witha calculation or look-up table to determined distance Δ.

In yet another exemplary approach, sensor 34 may employ an infrared (IR)sensing technique. The IR sensing technique may include an IR lightsource, an IR receiver, and a sensing element. Beams of IR light may bedistributed from the light source at an angle. The beams reflected offof surface level 32 may be received by the IR receiver. Triangulationcalculations may be used to determine distance Δ. Infrared sensing mayrequire two sensors 54, 56 such as the depiction in FIG. 4.

It is to be understood that the list of sensing technologies listedabove is not an exhaustive list. Additional sensing technologies mayalso be suitable, e.g., inductive sensing, resistive sensing,evaporative gas sensing, image sensing, pressure sensing, float sensingor other mechanical sensing, strain gauge or force sensing, etc. Aninductive sensor may pass a current through an inductive loop creating amagnetic field. A metal substance 30 in the presence of the magneticfield produced by the loop may effect the inductance of the loop. Thechange in inductance may be sensed by the inductive sensor to determinethe proximity of the substance 30 to the sensor 54. A strain gaugesensor may measure deformation or strain of the container 16 cause bythe substance 30. A foil pattern may be deformed by the strain therebyaltering its resistive properties. The change in resistance may bemeasured and used to determine an indication of the amount of thesubstance 30. A float sensor may be used with a liquid substance 30. Afloat may ride against a vertically disposed set of contacts. The floatmay therefore complete a circuit at a set of contacts corresponding tothe surface level 32 of the substance 30. A pressure or force basedsensor such as a scale may be used to determine the weight of thesubstance 30. The weight may be used along with a known density of thesubstance in order to determine an indication of the amount of thesubstance 30.

An evaporative gas sensor may sense the concentration of the substance30 that has evaporated into the air within the container. Theconcentration may vary based on the amount of the substance 30 in thecontainer 16 and therefore may be used to determine an indication of theamount. Optical sensing may use a set of vertically arranged imagesensors. The level 32 of the substance 30 may be determined based on theheight of the last sensor to be obstructed by the substance 30. An imagesensor may be used with a transparent container 16 in order to capturean image of the substance 30 including the surface level 32. An imageprocessing device may use the image to determine an indication of theamount based on the surface level 32.

An aperture 44 may be provided in lid 18 to facilitate operation ofsensor 34. In another exemplary approach, aperture 44 may be coveredwith a protective element 60. Protective element 60 may further be alens for an IR or optical based sensor 34.

Accordingly, while sensor 34 may be provided by numerous sensingtechnologies, any particular sensor 34 may determine distance Δ. In oneexemplary approach, sensor 34 may output distance Δ to transmitter 36.In such an approach, a control unit 70, discussed below, may receive thetransmitted distance Δ and calculate the amount of substance 30 based ondistance Δ. In another exemplary approach, sensor 34 may output distanceΔ to processor 40. In such an approach, processor 40 may calculate theamount of substance 30 based on distance Δ. Accordingly, transmitter 36may transmit the amount of substance 30 in container 16 rather thandistance Δ.

Transmitter 36 may transmit information about container 16 byinterfacing with a receiver of a control unit 70, discussed below.Transmitter 36 may communicate wirelessly with receiver to transmit theinformation about container 16. The specific types of information thatmay be communicated will be addressed below. In one exemplary approach,the communication between transmitter and receiver is unidirectionalwith all transmissions originating from transmitter 36. However, otherexemplary approaches may include a receiver with device 20 forimplementing bi-directional communication. Transmitter 36 may includeany of a number of transmitting technologies. Transmitter 36 may be atransceiver in that it may include a receiver to receive communicationsfrom other components, e.g., control unit 70. Communications received bythe receiver may provide instructions to the processor 40, such as aninstruction to activate the device 20 to determine the amount of thesubstance 30. Similarly, communications may include meta data 42discussed below, for use by the device 20.

In one exemplary approach, transmitter 36 may be a radio frequency (RF)transmitter. RF transmitters emit signals in the radio frequency rangeof the electromagnetic spectrum. Within the domain of RF transmitters,any of a number of RF transmission standards may be employed bytransmitter 36. The RF transmission standard generally defines thesignal strength, frequency, data throughput, and communicationsprotocol. Low power RF standards, such as Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, Wibree™,enOcean®, Z-wave®, etc., are ideally suited for sensing and reportingdevice 20. In other exemplary approaches requiring greater data rates ortransmission range, a radio frequency transmitter operating according tothe wi-fi or wi-max transmission standards may be employed.

In yet another exemplary approach, transmitter 36 may be a radiofrequency identification (RFID) circuit. In such an approach, an RFIDcircuit may act as both transmitter 36 and power source 38. The RFIDcircuit may include an antenna for transmitting RF signals. The antennamay also inductively generate electrical power when in the presence ofan operating RFID reader.

In another exemplary approach, transmitter 36 may be an IR transmitter.The IR transmitter may include an IR diode that can produce an IRsignal. The IR signal may then be received by a photoelectric receiverincluded with the receiver of the control unit 70. In another exemplaryapproach, transmitter 36 may produce a visible light signal. A visiblelight signal may produce a series of light pulses that may be receivedand interpreted by a receiver. Both an IR transmitter and a visiblelight transmitter typically rely on line of sight and therefore may besuited toward an implementation where line of sight communication isavailable or necessary.

In another exemplary approach, transmitter 36 may be an acoustictransmitter. For instance, transmitter 36 may be a speaker configured toaudibly transmit the output of sensor 34. Transmitter 36 may announcethe amount of substance 30 contained in container 16. Other acoustictransmitters may emit signals in an inaudible frequency for receipt andinterpretation by an acoustic receiver.

While not depicted in the drawing figures, transmitter 36 may require anaperture in outer portion of lid 18. For instance, a non-metal aperturein a metal lid 18 may facilitate the transmission of radio frequencysignals. Similarly, an IR transmitter may require a transparent ortranslucent aperture for the passage of the infrared signals and mayfurther include a lens with the aperture. In another exemplary approachto reducing interference, not shown, transmitter 36 is provided on anouter surface of lid 18.

Power source 38 may provide electrical power to transmitter 35, sensor34, and processor 40. The environment of kitchen 10 generally cannotaccommodate a plurality of containers 16 wired to a power source.Accordingly, power source 38 may be an unwired power source allowingsensing and reporting device 20 to be self-contained and in someexemplary approaches, self-sufficient. Moreover, any of a number ofunwired power sources may be employed as power source 38. Some examplesof unwired power sources include a battery, a solar cell, an RFIDcircuit, as well as power sources that use at least one energyharvesting technique to derive power. Batteries, such as dry cellbatteries, are well known for providing power to devices that cannotaccommodate being wired to a power source. Dry cell batteries typicallyuse a chemical reaction to provide power. As a result, batteries maybecome depleted over time. Accordingly a device with a battery powersource may need to allow for replacement of the battery or may need tobe disposable. A battery based power source may be implemented when thedevice 20 needs to be activated at arbitrary times as well as when thedevice 20 needs to be continuously activated. A battery may further actas a supplemental power source to other power sources discussed below.Solar cells, or photovoltaic cells, are known for implementing thephotovoltaic effect to convert light energy into electrical energy. Acell disposed on an outer portion of the lid 18 could absorb light fromthe environment when removed from a containing unit 12. Solar and RFIDbased power sources are discussed in further detail below.

Energy harvesting techniques may include an inductive generator, apiezoelectric generator, a thermoelectric generator, a kineticmicro-generator, an electro-chemical generator and combinations thereof.Energy may be harvested, for example, from motion, forces, vibration,temperature gradients, ambient sources or a combination thereof.

An inductive generator may generate power from the movement of the lid.A source of magnetic flux may be associated with one of the lid and thejar and a flux responsive device may be associated with the other of thelid and the jar. The source of magnetic flux may be one or morepermanent magnets attached to a surface of container 16, such as the rimof container 16. The flux responsive device may be a conductive coilextended along a circumferential surface of the lid, such as a lipportion of lid 18 that overlaps the rim of container 16. Spinning lid18, which may be necessary to unscrew a screw-on lid, passes the coilthrough the magnetic fields provided by the magnets, which in turninduces a voltage between the ends of the coils.

A piezoelectric generator employs a material that demonstrates apiezoelectric effect. Applying a force or strain to the piezoelectricmaterial may produce electrical energy that can be used by the elementsof sensing and reporting device 20.

A thermoelectric generator may rely on a temperature gradient betweentwo conducting materials to produce electrical energy.

Kinetic micro-generators may employ a moving element such as a pendulum,piston, flywheel, etc. to charge a capacitor which may in turn providean electrical output. The moving element may cause an attached magnet tooscillate in the presence of a coil, which in turn charges thecapacitor. The capacitor may then be discharged at the time the device20 needs to be powered. A kinetic micro-generator may use piezoelectricsto harvest energy from ambient mechanical vibration.

A kinetic micro-generator may convert ambient vibration into electricityby placing magnets along a beam that is configured to vibrate inresponse to the ambient vibration. As the beam vibrates, the magnetsmove in response and move relative to a coil in proximity to the beamand the magnets. As the magnets move relative to the coil,electro-magnetic induction causes current to flow in the coil. Thecurrent flow is the electric energy.

Solar cells and kinetic micro-generators are examples of power sourcesthat derive their power from the natural ambient environment.

Power source 38 may provide power in response to accessing the substanceof the container 16. Moreover, the time that container 16 is accessed isan ideal time to power sensing and reporting device 20 to determine theamount of substance 30 because container 16 is generally accessed forthe purpose of removing a portion of substance 30. Therefore, sensingand reporting device 20 may be able to not only determine the amount ofsubstance 30, but also may be able to calculate the portion of substance30 removed with each access to container 16. However, if the activationof the device 20 is based on power generated from a movement there maybe multiple sensor readings associated with an access of the container.Moving the container 16 may cause a reading while in transit. Removingthe lid 18 may cause another reading, and affixing the lid may cause yetanother reading. It may be desirable to take a reading both before andafter an opening to determine the amount of the substance 30 removed oradded. However, the difference between general movement, opening, andclosing may need to be differentiated. Additionally, a delay in theactivation of the device may allow for the substance 30 to settle priorto determining the amount. A capacitor may be included with power source38 in order to store the electrical energy until it is needed. Processor40 may cause the release of the electrical energy after the delay.

The choice of power source 38 may affect the specific time that sensingand reporting device 20 determines the amount of substance 30. Forinstance, a solar cell based power source may generate electrical powerwhen container 16 is removed from an enclosed area such as refrigerator12 or cabinetry 14 and exposed to a light source. A piezoelectricgenerator may generate electrical power as a result of the force orstrain place on lid 18 during its removal. An RFID circuit may generateelectrical power when exposed to an RFID reader. A thermoelectricgenerator may generate electrical power due to the temperaturedifferential created when a container 16 is removed from refrigerator12. While the power sources 38 just discussed may be able toautomatically generate electrical power during the opening or closing ofcontainer 16, a battery based power source 38 may require the inclusionof an additional element in sensing and reporting device 20 such as aswitch or an accelerometer in order to sense the opening or closing ofcontainer 16.

Processor 40 of sensing and reporting device 20 may be a general purposemicroprocessor. Such a processor may provide a predefined instructionset that can be used to program device 20 with very flexible controlsoftware. However, in another exemplary approach, processor 40 maymerely include circuitry to allow the level reading of sensor 34 to betransmitted by transmitter 36.

Processor 40 may include data 42, which may include at least one elementof metadata. In one exemplary approach data 42 may be permanentlyembedded in processor 40. For instance data 42 may be a metadata elementthat provides an identifier. The identifier may identify the device 20,the container 16, the substance 30, or a class of the substance 30.Moreover, in an environment 10 including a plurality of containers 16,the identifier may uniquely identify a particular device 20. In anotherexemplary approach, data 42 may be dynamically modifiable. Processor 40may include a memory storage device such as flash memory, an EEPROM,etc., which holds data 42. Sensing and reporting device 20 mayadditionally include a receiver to receive new data 42.

Data 42 is not limited to being only an identifier and may include manyother possible items. Data 42 may include an indication of a prioramount of the substance 30. The prior amount compared to the currentamount may allow for a determination of a portion of the substance 30that has been removed. Data 42 may provide an indication of a chemicalcomponent of the substance 30. For instance, it may be desirable to knowthe chemical composition of the substance to make decisions regardingthe environmental conditions of the substance 30, among other reasons.

Data 42 may include date and time values such as a date and time thatthe container 16 was first opened, a date and time that the container 16was last opened, a date and time that the substance was processed orpackaged at a processing facility. Data 42 may include manufacturing orprocessing information such as a name of the producer of the substance30, a trade name of the substance 30, a generic name of the substance30, an identifier of the processing facility that processed thesubstance 30, or a batch number of the substance 30. Data 42 may includenutritional and health information such as an indication of thenutritional attributes of the substance 30, an indication of thepresence of allergens associated with the substance 30, and anindication of a dosage of the substance 30.

Data 42 may provide information for use in the determination of theamount of the substance 30 such as a lookup table mapping the output ofthe sensor 34 to the amount of the substance 30, or an indication of thephysical dimensions of the container 16. Data 42 may be used to regulateand track usage of the substance 30 by providing a history of theamounts of the substance 30 as well as an indication of a permitted userof the substance 30. As will be discussed in more detail below, sensingand reporting device 20 may include additional sensors and accessorymodules. Accordingly, data 42 may provide an indication of an idealenvironmental condition of the substance 30, an output from anadditional sensor, as well as a control parameter for an accessorymodule. Data 42 may further hold information from external sources suchas sensors in the containing unit 12 or even information from othercontainers 16.

A control unit 70 may be provided in kitchen 10 for communicating withsensing devices 20. Control unit 70 may be integrated with an applianceas depicted, or may be a stand alone device. Similarly, control unit 70may be provided as a peripheral of a PC or notebook computer. Controlunit 70 may include a receiver and transmitter, not shown, for receivingcommunications from transmitter 36 of sensing and reporting device 20.The receiver of control unit 70 generally includes the same transmissiontechnology as transmitter 36. However, if kitchen 10 includes sensingdevices 20 with multiple transmission technologies, including any ofthose discussed above, control unit 70 may provide multiple receiverseach configured to receive a respective type of transmission. In anapproach using RFID circuits in sensing and reporting device 20, controlunit 70 may provide an RFID reader for both activating and communicatingwith the RFID circuit.

Control unit 70 may provide a visual display 72 and a control interface74 such as a key pad. In another exemplary embodiment, display 72 andcontrol interface 74 may be integrated. Display 72 and control interface74 cooperate to provide a user with facilities to control and interactwith control unit 70 and sensing devices 20. In addition, control unit70 with display 72 and control interface 74 may function as a userinterface for refrigerator 12 or any other appliance like cooktops,ranges, dishwashers, washers, dryers, and the like, allowing the controlunit 70 to send commands that effect the cycle of operation of theappliance. Interface 74 may display the amount of substance 30 incontainer 16 or cycle information about the cycle of operation of theappliance. Moreover, in a kitchen 10 with multiple containers 16,display 72 may show the amounts of substance 30 for each container. Asdiscussed above, data 42 may include an identifier to assist the controlunit 70 and the user in determining the amount of substance 30associated with a particular container 16. Control unit 70 may allow auser to associate an identifier with a particular substance. Forinstance, if container 16 may be refilled with multiple differentsubstances 30, control unit 70 may allow the user to associate a name orlabel with an identifier.

FIG. 3 illustrates another exemplary container 16 having a sensing andreporting device 20 associated with the lid 18. As with the exemplarysensing devices discussed above, the device 20 of FIG. 3 includes aprocessor 40 and transmitter 36. The device 20 may be powered by a powersource that may be a micro-generator 38, discussed below. Device 20includes a plurality of amount sensors 54 a-d. Each sensor 54 a-d isdistributed to different sections of the lid 18. Accordingly, eachsensor 54 a-d will read an indication of the amount of the substance 30stored in the container at different points. Such an approach may besuited to determine the amount of substance 30 having an irregularsurface level 32. The distance Δ between the surface level 32 and eachsensor 54 a-d may be different. A single distance Δ may be determined toa calculation, such as an average, of each reading of sensors 54 a-d.

FIG. 4 illustrates another exemplary sensing and reporting device 20having an additional sensor 56 and accessory modules such as an activedevice 58, a clock 62, and a user authorization module 64. As discussedabove the additional sensor 56 may be a second sensor used to determinethe amount of substance 30 in container 16. However, in anotherexemplary approach, the additional sensor 56 may be unrelated to thedetermination of the amount of substance 30. For instance, theadditional sensor 56 may sense container attributes for determining thefreshness or quality of substance 30. The active device 58 is oneexample of an accessory module that may be included with sensing andreporting device 20. Active device may operate to affect the substance.Active device may include a motor, an agitator, a fan, a dispenser, adryer, a pump, a cooler, a heater, an ozone generator, etc. The activedevice may further affect the environment inside the container 16 abovethe surface level 32 of the substance 30. For instance, a pump maypressurize or depressurize the environment. A dryer may remove humidityfrom the environment. A fan or agitator may simply stir the air tocreate a circulation pattern. An ozone generator may produce ozone thatcan have preservative effects on certain kinds of substances 30, e.g.,foodstuffs. A dispenser may emit substances necessary or useful to thesubstance 30, e.g., a preservative, etc.

Clock 62 may allow for the determination of the access times ofcontainer 16. The access times may be used to generate a usage history.Access times may also be used in cooperation with other date values suchas the processing or production date of substance 30 in order todetermine the freshness or quality of substance 30. Clock 62 may furtherallow the tracking of the amount of time that lid 18 is removed fromcontainer 16. Such information may further be useful in determining thefreshness or quality of substance 30. User authorization module 64 mayassociate an individual to an access of container 16 and also to theremoval of substance 30 from container 16. User authorization module 64may provide an interface on an external surface of lid 18, e.g., a keypad, for accepting a user identification number. However, in anotherexemplary approach, sensing and reporting device 20 may further includea receiver, not shown, for bi-directional communication with controlunit 70. A user may key in an identification number into the controlinterface 74 which would then be transmitted to sensing and reportingdevice 20.

FIG. 5 illustrates another exemplary sensing and reporting device 20.Some containers 16 may be manufactured without sensing and reportingdevice 20 integrated into lid 18. Moreover, a user may not want to havesensing and reporting device 20 in every container 16. Accordingly,common enclosure 50 may house the elements of sensing and reportingdevice 20 such as sensor 34, transmitter 36, power source 38, andprocessor 40. While common enclosure 50 could be fixedly attached to aninner surface 52 of lid 18, common enclosure 50 may allow sensing andreporting device 20 to be removably attached to inner surface 52. Aremovably attachable common enclosure 50 may allow sensing and reportingdevice 20 to be used in association with more than one container 16.Additionally, certain environments, e.g., a microwave, a dishwasher, maybe harmful to the device. Accordingly, the common enclosure 50 mayfacilitate the removal of the device 20 at times when the container 16will be subjected to harsh environments.

When transferring device 20 with common enclosure 50 to a differentcontainer 16, it may be desirable to associate data 42, such as anidentifier, with the new container 16 or substance 30. Control unit 70may control the association of identifiers to particular containers 16or substances 30. For instance, control unit 70 may provide an interfacein cooperation with display 72 and control interface 74 for identifyingsubstance 30, container 16, etc., with data 42 when transferring sensingand reporting device 20 to a different container 16. Similarly, sensingdevices 20 may be produced in bulk and packed as a dispensable roll ofdevices 20. Such an approach may be suited to a container 16 productionor processing facility. At the time of dispensing, the metadata 42 maybe set for the device 20.

Container based amount sensing devices 20, such as those describedabove, may be useful for various methods of inventory control. Exemplaryinventory management systems are illustrated in FIGS. 6-10 describedbelow.

Inventory control may implement inventory notifications in order toprovide alerts related to the inventory. Notifications may be generatedin response to triggering rules. The triggering rules may be based onthe amount of substance 30 stored in a container 16 as well as otherconsiderations. Other factors that may be included with triggering rulescould include the time that a container is accessed, the amount ofsubstance 30 that is added or removed, and the identity of the personthat accessed the container 16. Inventory control methods include, amongothers, inventory monitoring, inventory usage restrictions, andinventory replenishment planning.

There are four primary variables that may be related to any access: theamount of substance 30 in the container 16, the type of substance 30,the access time and the identity of the individual accessing thecontainer. These variables may be incorporated into notificationtriggering rules in order to provide access based notifications. Anaccess of a container that includes a lid may be the opening or theclosing of the lid. Other containers may be accessed through squeezingin order to dispense the substance 30. Similarly, a container mayinclude a regulator, such as a spigot for dispensing the substance 30.Accordingly, an additional variable may be the type of access event,e.g. opening, closing, substance removal, substance addition,dispensing, filling, removing the container 16 from a storage unit, etc.

It should be apparent that all possible variables have not beenenumerated and that one skilled in the art will recognize othervariables that may be included with notification triggering rules.Notifications that are provided at the time of opening may be consideredopening or pre-access notifications while notifications that areprovided at the time of closing may be considered closing or post-accessnotifications. The sensing and reporting device 20 may be configured toprovide an indication of the amount of the substance 30 at the time ofopening, closing, or both, as well as at other times.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart depicting exemplary steps and decisionsrelated to activating a container and generating access basednotifications. Process 100 presents a generic representation of anaccess based notification method for inventory control. Processes 200and 300, discussed below, present implementations of process 100 asapplied respectively to the storage of medications and foodstuffs.Process 100 describes notifications as either pre-access or post-accessnotifications. It will be recognized that other exemplary processes mayomit either the pre-access or post-access notifications. For instance,an exemplary process may only provide notifications subsequent to theaccesses and removal of a portion of the substance 30.

Process 100 begins in step 105 where a sensing and reporting device 20may be activated by being associated with a substance 30 stored in acontainer 16. Additionally, the association may be recorded or stored bycontrol unit 70. In one exemplary approach, containers 16 with sensingand reporting device 20 may provide a generic and reusable storagemedium. An operator may fill the container 16 with any type of substance30. Moreover, once empty, the container 16 may be refilled with adifferent type of substance 30. Accordingly, the association allows thecontrol unit 70 to track which of potentially many substances iscurrently being stored in container 16.

An environment 10 may include multiple containers 16, each storing asubstance 30. The substance stored in a container 16 may be the same ordifferent from a substance 30 stored in a different container 16. Inanother exemplary approach, the sensing and reporting device 20 may beremovable from the container 16. Accordingly, the association may beboth a physical association of the device 20 to a container 16 as wellas a data association of the device 20 and the substance 30. In anotherexemplary approach, a producer or processor of the substance 30 mayprepackage the substance in a container 16 that includes an amountsensor 20. In such an approach, the identifier of the sensing andreporting device 20 would be unknown in the environment 10. Accordingly,the identifier and the association to the substance would both need tobe entered into the control unit 70.

An initial amount of the substance may be determined and stored at thetime that the association is entered at the control unit 70. The initialamount may facilitate the determination of an amount added or removed atthe time a container 16 is accessed. The control unit 70 may store abrand name of substance 30, a generic name of substance 30, a name of aclass of substance 30, etc. in association with the identifier.

Next, in step 110, notification trigger rules related to substance 30may be stored in the data store. In an alternative approach, triggeringrules may be associated with a container 16. Associating a triggeringrule with a substance 30 may facilitate the generation of notificationsacross a plurality of containers 16 containing the same type ofsubstance 30. The control unit 70 may provide a user interface forentering one or more triggering rules.

The trigger rules may include any type of information related to thesubstance 30 that will be used to trigger an access notification. Thetrigger rules may be correlated to a user ID of a particular operator.The user ID may be any type of information or data that identifies auser, e.g., a name, or an ID number. The trigger rules may further berelated to at least one amount of the substance such that a triggeringevent may be based on the combination of the user ID, the substance 30,and the current amount of the substance 30. Triggering rules may furtherdepend on time values such that a notification is only triggered atcertain times. Triggering rules may depend on the type of access, e.g.,opening, closing, substance 30 addition, substance 30 removal, etc.Combinations of any of the user ID, amount, and date/time may beprovided to create complex triggering rules. For instance, a triggeringrule may be based on a user ID, a date, and an amount. Triggering rulesmay be also dependent on other environmental factors, such as seasonalchanges, anticipated changes, and consuming pattern changes includingbut not limited to the change of the number of consumers. Additionally,the amount and date may be associated with comparison technique suchthat triggering rules can specify that an amount or date should, forexample, be less than a certain value. Each container may have aplurality of triggering rules associated therewith. Triggering rulesgenerally may be evaluated to a Boolean true or false result.

Next, in step 115, a user ID and access time may be recorded prior to,or contemporaneously with, accessing container 16. Providing a user IDcontemporaneously with an access of the container 16 may allow forpre-access notifications generated by triggering rules based on the userID. However, in an alternative approach that does not need user-specificpre-access notifications the step of collecting of the user ID prior toaccess may be omitted. Control unit 70 may maintain a log in a datastore of all notifications. The log may include a sequence of dateordered entries or line items. The log may be implemented in a databasewith each entry being a database record or row. In one exemplaryapproach, an operator uses control interface 72 of control unit 70 toprovide a user ID. Control unit 70 may include an internal clock torecord the access time. The user ID and access time may be stored to adata store as an entry in an access log. Additionally, the entry mayindicate that the operator intends to access at least one container 16.Once a particular container 16 is accessed, the access log may beupdated with an additional entry identifying the container 16 that wasaccessed. If the operator accesses more than one container 16, an accesslog entry may be stored for each container 16.

Next, in step 120, it may be determined whether a pre-accessnotification is required for the container 16 that has been accessed bythe operator. The triggering rules stored in data store may be queriedbased on the identifier of the container 16. Any resulting triggeringrules may be evaluated with applicable date, amount, and user ID values.Any rule that evaluates to a Boolean true result may cause anotification to be generated. If all triggering rules for the substance30 result in a false result, the process may skip to step 130.

Next, in step 125, a pre-access notification may be generated. Thepre-access notification may be related to the triggering rule thatevaluated to a true result. If more than one triggering rule evaluatedto a true result, then a pre-access notification may be generated foreach rule. The notification may include the values of the triggeringrule in order to provide an explanation for the notification. Forinstance, if the triggering rule is based on an amount level, thenotification may indicate that the amount of substance 30 has beendepleted to the specified triggering level. The notification may beprovided to the operator via the display 72 of control unit 70, audibly,through an entry in the log stored in the data store, etc. Additionally,the notification may be distributed to remote recipients, e.g., via anemail message, or the like.

Next, in step 130, a new amount of substance 30 may be determined. It isto be understood that the operator may have removed some of thesubstance, added additional substance, or neither added nor removed anyof the substance. As discussed above, sensing and reporting device 20may be configured to activate at the time of closing the lid 18.Affixing lid 18 to container 16 may activate sensing and reportingdevice 20 to determine the amount of substance 30 currently contained incontainer 16. The new amount may then be transmitted to control unit 70as discussed above.

Next, in step 135, the new amount may be stored to a data store.Accordingly, the new amount will be available for use in step 120 in afuture access of container 16. The new amount may be established as thecurrent amount. The previous current amount, which may have been theinitial amount, may be stored as a historical amount. Accordingly, thedata store of control unit 70 may track the usage of substance 30 byrecording the amount each time the lid 18 is closed or affixed tocontainer 16.

Next, in step 140, the removed portion may be attributed to the user ID.The previous amount and the current amount may be used to calculate aportion that is the difference between the two amounts. The portion mayrepresent added or removed substance 30. The portion, user ID, and dateand time may be stored to the data store and associated with thesubstance 30. Accordingly, the data store may keep a running log of notonly the historical amounts of the substance 30, but also a historicallog of the usage of the substance 30 that may be attributed to theoperator. In an alternative approach that does not store historicalamounts, a reading of the amount may be obtained from the sensing andreporting device 20 prior and subsequent to an access. Accordingly, theportion may be the difference between the prior and subsequent amounts.

Next, in step 145, it may be determined whether a post-accessnotification is required. As discussed above with respect to step 120,the notification trigger rules associated with sensing and reportingdevice 20 may be evaluated. The rules may be re-evaluated even if thecurrent amount is the same as the previous amount given that a triggerrule may be based on other factors such as the time. A triggering rulemay trigger a post-access notification based on a new amount of thesubstance 30. Other exemplary triggering rules may trigger notificationsbased on timing such as the time of the evaluation, the length of timebetween the pre-access and post-access evaluation, etc. The length oftime between the pre-access and post-access evaluations may beindicative of the length of time that a container 16 is open, or thelength of time container 16 is outside of storage.

Next, in step 150, a post-access notification may be generated. As instep 125 above, the notification may be provided to the operator via thedisplay 72 of control unit 70, audibly, through an entry in the logstored in the data store, etc. Additionally, the notification may bedistributed to remote recipients, e.g. via an email message, or thelike.

Following step 150, process 100 ends. Accordingly, process 100 may allowfor access based notifications that are triggered according toinformation about the substance 30 in correlation to the time of access,a user ID, the amount of substance 30 added or removed from thecontainer 16, etc.

FIG. 7A illustrates a flowchart depicting exemplary steps and decisionsrelated to a process 200 for regulating and monitoring the access of amedication substance 30 contained in a container 16 having a sensing andreporting device 20.

Process 200 begins in step 205 where a sensing and reporting device 20may be associated with a medication substance 30. The sensing andreporting device 20 of container may include an identifier as an elementof data 42. The identifier may be correlated to the medication stored incontainer 16.

Next, in step 210, dosage information related to a particular operatorand medication may be stored in a data store. The dosage information mayinclude scheduling or timing of doses as well as dose amounts. Thedosage information may be extrapolated to determine a set of expectedamounts at specific times. For instance, at each scheduled dose time,the amount may be reduced by the dose amount. Accordingly, thischart/table of amounts and times may be used in the determination ofwhether a dose was missed. In an alternative approach, the timing andamount of the next dose may be based on the most recent dose rather thana predetermined dose schedule. For instance, if a dose is taken at atime that does not correspond to a time on the dose schedule, theschedule may have to be updated so that a dose time notification is notperpetually generated. Determining dose time based on the previousaccess time may eliminate the need to calculate and recalculate acomplete dose schedule. The dose timing may be stored as one or morenotification trigger rules.

Next, in step 215, access data such as the user ID of the accessor oruser as well as an access time may be recorded. Step 115 above providesadditional details related to the collection and processing of accessdata.

Next, in step 220, it may be determined whether the operator isassociated with the medication. A triggering rule may provide acorrelation between the user ID and the medication. However, in anotherexemplary approach, a dedicated set of records that are not notificationtrigger rules may provide a correlation between the user ID and themedication. The data store may be queried based on the user ID and theidentifier to determine if there is a correlation. If no correlationexists between the user ID and the medication, then it may be determinedthat the medication should not be removed by the operator.

Next, in step 222, a wrong medication notification may be generated.Step 115 above describes various ways of providing the notification. Itis to be understood that the operator may remove a portion of themedication despite receiving a wrong medication notification.Accordingly, the process continues.

Next, in step 224, it may be determined whether the current amount ofmedication in the container 16 as well as the time of access indicatesthat a dose was missed. For instance, if the current amount exceeds anexpected amount for the given time of access, it may be concluded that adose was missed. In an alternative approach, the determination ofwhether a dose was missed may be based only on the access time and noton the amount of medication in the container. The access time may becompared to a predetermined schedule of dose times or may be based onthe previous access time and the standard dose period.

Next, in step 226, a dose timing notification may be generated. The dosetime notification may include instructions on the amount of medicationthat should be removed. The amount that should be removed may be thestandard dose amount or may be some amount less than the standard doseamount. For instance, if the prior dose was an under dose, an amountcorresponding to the difference between the standard dose and the underdose may be an acceptable amount. Step 115 above discusses ways ofproviding the notification. Additionally, the notification may bedistributed to health care providers and the like.

Next, in step 230, a new amount of the medication may be determined. Forinstance, sensing and reporting device 20 may be activated in responseto affixing the lid 18 to container 16. Determining the amount at thetime of container closing allows for a determination of whether anymedication was removed or added.

Next, in step 235, the new amount of the medication 30 stored in thecontainer 16 may be recorded. Recording the amount removes the need todetermine the current amount when opening the container 16. However, inanother exemplary approach, the new amount of medication 30 does notnecessarily need to be stored if the amount can be determined at thetime of accessing the container 16.

Next, in step 240, the portion of medication removed from the container16 may be attributed to the operator. The portion may be determinedbased on the difference between the current amount and the most recentprevious amount. As discussed above, the attribution may be stored to alog file. The log may be included with a medical history of theoperator.

Next, in step 245, it may be determined whether the new amount indicatesthat an incorrect dose was removed. The portion may be compared to thestandard dose. A portion exceeding the standard dose may indicate anover dose and a portion less than the standard dose may represent anunder dose. In another exemplary approach, the portion may be summedwith a prior portion if the prior portion represented an under dose andthe current portion was removed during the same dose period as the priorportion. As discussed above, the dose schedule may need to be updatedwith a new set of expected amounts using the current amount as a basevalue that is offset by the standard dose amount. In another exemplaryapproach, a notification trigger rule may be created for the next accessbased on the current amount as well as on the current time. In such anapproach, each notification trigger rule would be based off the mostrecent access rather than by a predetermined schedule.

Following step 245, process 200 ends. Accordingly, process 200 providesexemplary steps and decisions related to providing access basednotifications for a medication stored in a container 16 with a device 20configured to determine an indication of the amount of medicationcontained therein.

FIG. 7B illustrates a flowchart depicting alternative exemplary stepsand decisions in a process 260 similar to process 200 described above.Some or all of the steps of process 260 may be substituted for steps ofprocess 200 or may be added to process 200.

Process 260 begins in step 265 where a sensing and reporting device 20may be associated with a medication substance 30.

Next, in step 270, dosage information and user ID information isassociated with medication substance 30. The user ID information mayitself be associated with a patient or with a caregiver or both. Step270 may occur at the pharmacy at the time of filling the prescription byadding the information to data storage incorporated into the containeror lid or by providing it on the container in a machine readablefashion. The information may be subsequently communicated to a centraldata system in the use environment, such as smart refrigerator or smartmedicine cabinet, or may be inputted by the patient or caregiver at thetime the medication substance 30 is introduced into the use environment.

Next, in step 275, a medicine notification rule may be associated withthe user ID. The rule may be a standard notification rule derived fromthe dosing schedule or may be a medicine specific rule provided by thephysician, the dispensing pharmacy or the user. Alternatively, it may beretrieved from a database of rules associated with various medicines bytheir manufacturers. It may also include as inputs information about thepatient, such as age and medical condition.

Next, in step 280, an event including a user ID may be reported. Theevent may be an access event such as opening a container or dispensingmedicine. Alternatively, the event may be a user entering the useenvironment or opening a storage compartment holding the medicationsubstance 30, such as a smart refrigerator or smart medicine cabinet.The notification rule may be different for a user ID for a patient thanfor a user ID for a care giver.

Next, in step 285, it may be determined whether the user ID reported isassociated with a medicine notification rule. If a notification ruleexists, then the notification rule is consulted to determine what typeof notification should be provided.

Next, in step 290, a notification may be generated if appropriateaccording to the notification rule. The notification may be, forexample, a reminder that medicine is due at some time in the future, areminder that medicine is now due, a reminder that medicine is over dueor a reminder that medicine needs to be ordered. The reminder mayinclude dosage or other dispensing information, such as a reminder toeat or not eat with the medication, or a warning about drug or foodinteractions. The notification may combine information about multiplemedicines associated with a patient and may report historical medicineconsumption information relating to the patient, including informationabout prior adverse reactions.

Following step 290, process 250 ends.

Accordingly, process 250 provides exemplary steps and decisions relatedto providing access based notifications for a medication stored in acontainer 16 with a device 20 configured to assist a patient or careprovider in the management of medicine consumption.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart with exemplary steps and decisionsrelated to a process 300 of managing an inventory of a foodstuff withrespect to dietary restrictions.

Process 300 begins in step 305 where a sensing and reporting device 20may be associated with a foodstuff. As discussed above, associating thesensing and reporting device 20 with the contents may facilitate thecreation of trigger rules based on the substance 30. Accordingly, thefoodstuff may be identified by type or brand name and associated withthe sensing and reporting device 20.

Next, in step 310, dietary restrictions related to the foodstuff may berecorded. Dietary restrictions may include foodstuffs that should not beconsumed by an individual for health or allergy reasons. Additionally,dietary restrictions may be related to a quantity of the foodstuff thatmay be consumed by an individual. Dietary restrictions may set outcertain combinations of foodstuffs that should be avoided. The dietaryrestrictions may be stored as one or more notification trigger rules.

Next, in step 315, the user ID may be accepted from the individualaccessing the container 16. Accepting the user ID may allow for theretrieval and evaluation of notification trigger rules based on the userID.

Next, in step 320, it may be determined whether a dietary restrictionnotification should be generated. Using the provided user ID, thenotification trigger rules may be queried. Any notification triggerrules related to the user ID may then be evaluated.

Next, in step 325, a dietary restriction notification may be generated.An evaluated notification trigger rule may indicate that the userassociated with the user ID should avoid consumption of the foodstuffcontained in the container 16. In another approach, the notification mayprovide the individual guidance with respect to an amount that may beconsumed, taking into account food interactions, specific or generaldaily nutritional requirements, specific or general daily consumptionlimits, kosher or other dietary laws, reservations of food ornutritional categories for later consumption, elevated market price forreplenishment, or other criteria. In still another approach, in whichmultiple containers 16 are accessed, the notification may be based onthe combination of the foodstuffs.

Next, in step 330, an amount of the foodstuff may be determined. Thesensing and reporting device 20 may be activated in order to produce anindication of the amount of the foodstuff. This indication of the amountmay reflect a different amount than the prior amount if the amount wasaltered by the accessing individual.

Next, in step 332, the latest amount may be recorded. Recording theamount may facilitate the determination of portions that have beenremoved or added. Similarly, recording the amount may provide ahistorical record of the amount of the foodstuff.

Next, in step 334, the removed portion, if any, may be attributed to theuser ID. Attributing the removed portion may facilitate the planning andtracking of a nutritional plan or may be used to allocate the cost ofreplenishment. The removed portion, combined with other portionsincluding portions of other foodstuffs, may indicate whether theindividual is consuming a desired degree of nutrition. For instance, thenutritional plan may be a weight loss diet and the portions may indicatewhether the diet is being followed.

Next, in step 336, a consumption event may be created for use by aninventory management system. The consumption event may include the typeof foodstuff, the user to which it is attributed, the time and date ofconsumption, and the quantity consumed. For example, in step 338, theconsumption event may be referred to a replenishment system for trackingthe use and consumption of foodstuff and managing the replacement offoodstuff. In step 340, the consumption event may be referred to a userconsumption management system for tracking the consumption habits of auser and generating dietary recommendations or notifications. Similarly,the consumption event could be referred to an inventory system formanaging the level and use of inventory for budgetary purposes.Alternatively, the consumption event could be referred to a recipemanagement system for generating proposed recipes for the foodstuff ininventory.

Next, in step 345, it may be determined whether a dietary restrictionhas been violated and dietary restriction notification should begenerated. A notification trigger rule may indicate a maximum, minimumor recommended portion size that should be consumed. Similarly, the rulemay indicate a time that the portion should be consumed. A notificationmay be generated if, for instance, the portion does not correspond to aportion established in a notification trigger rule. A notification maypropose an alternative foodstuff or activity.

Next, in step 350, a dietary violation notification may be generated.The violation notification may indicate that a foodstuff that should nothave been consumed was consumed, that an improper portion was consumed,that a portion was consumed at an improper time, etc. In addition to theways of providing the notification discussed above in step 125, thenotification may be provided to an external source such as a nutritionalplanning or dietician system. It should be noted that notification canoccur after an access event but before removal or dispensing offoodstuff from the container, after removal or dispensing of foodstuff,or both.

Following, step 350, the process 300 ends. Accordingly, process 300provides exemplary steps and decisions related to providing access basednotifications for a foodstuff stored in a container 16 with a device 20configured to assist the user in complying with dietary restrictions.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart with exemplary steps and decisionsrelated to a process 400 of managing an inventory of foodstuffs withrespect to planned menu items. Process 400 includes pre-access andpost-access notifications. However, unlike processes 100, 200, and 300user identification may not be required in process 400. Useridentification could be added if, for instance, multiple food preparersneed to track which food preparer is utilizing a foodstuff. Suchidentification may be desirable in an environment where food preparersare individually responsible for the foodstuffs, e.g., roommates thatpurchase their own food.

Process 400 provides a specific example to a more general concept ofresource planning. For instance, the substance 30 in the container 16 isnot required to be a foodstuff and the planned menu item is not requiredto be a prepared meal. The planned menu item could be generalized as anyuse of the substance 30 that is planned for the future. A portion of thesubstance 30 may be reserved for the planned use in the future.

Process 400 begins in step 405 where a foodstuff may be associated witha sensing and reporting device 20. Steps 105 and 305 above discuss suchan association.

Next, in step 410, at least one planned menu item may be recorded to adata store and the foodstuff on the menu item is associated with themenu item. The planned menu item may be stored as one or morenotification trigger rules which relate to the foodstuff. The triggerrule may indicate a minimum amount of the foodstuff that is reserved forthe planned use in the menu item. The planned menu item trigger rule mayfurther include a time of the future use as well as any knownreplenishment dates.

Next, in step 415, an access notification is received indicating thatcontainer 16 has been accessed.

Next, in step 420, it may be determined whether an accessed container 16stores a foodstuff that is associated with a planned menu item. Thesensing and reporting device 20 may be activated to provide anindication of the amount. The amount and the substance identifier may beused to retrieve any associated notification trigger rules. The triggerrules may be evaluated to determine if the foodstuff will be used with aplanned menu item and may further be evaluated to determine if there iscurrently a sufficient amount of the foodstuff for the planned menuitem.

Next, in step 425, a planned menu interference notification may begenerated. The notification may simply indicate that the foodstuff willbe used in a planned menu item. Additionally, the notification mayprovide an indication of the amount that should be reserved for thefuture use. For instance, the notification may instruct the accessingindividual to leave at least a certain amount for the planned menu item.Similarly, the notification may provide the accessing individual withthe maximum amount that may be removed without disrupting the plannedmenu item.

Next, in step 430, a new amount of the foodstuff may be determined fromthe sensing and reporting device 20. The current amount may differ froma previous amount if the accessing individual added or removed any ofthe foodstuff.

Next, in step 435, the new amount of the foodstuff may be stored.Storing the new amount may facilitate the determination of the amountremoved or added by the accessing individual. In another exemplaryapproach, the user ID of the accessing individual may be provided inorder to associate the portion removed with the user ID.

Next, in step 440, the new amount may be referred to a replenishmentmanagement system, for example, for dynamically responding to the accessevent by determining if replenishment action is required for thefoodstuff being accessed.

Next, in step 445, it may be determined whether the new amount isinsufficient for preparing the planned menu item. The notificationtrigger rule may be evaluated again in light of the new amount. If thenew amount exceeds the minimum reserved amount specified in thenotification trigger rule then the new amount may be consideredsufficient. If the new amount is sufficient, then process 400 may end.

Next, in step 450, an insufficient ingredients notification may begenerated. The notification may simply indicate that the planned menuitem cannot be produced. In another exemplary approach, the notificationcould add the foodstuff to a shopping or replenishment list. Similarly,the notification could be sent to an automated replenishment system. Thenotification may indicate the amount that is needed in order to producethe planned menu item.

Next, in step 455, it may be determined whether the foodstuff isavailable from another source. An alternative source could be a nearbylocation, e.g., a neighbor. The inventory system may be linked via anetwork to communicate with other inventory systems. Accordingly, thelinked or associated inventory systems may be queried to determine ifthere is a sufficient amount of the foodstuff that could be used for theplanned menu item without interfering with a planned menu item at theassociated inventory system. In another exemplary approach, thealternative source may be from one or more substitute ingredients. Forinstance, some foodstuffs may have equivalents or substitutes that maybe used in place of the insufficient ingredient. A table of substitutesmay be maintained and queried to determine a suitable substitute. Theamount of the substitute may then be determined to see if it could beused to produce the planned menu item. If there are no alternativesources of the foodstuff, process 400 may end. However, in analternative approach, rather than ending the process may scale down theplanned menu item to accommodate the amount of the foodstuff that isavailable. For instance, if only half of the necessary foodstuff isavailable, all other required ingredients may be scaled down by half inorder to make a half portion of the planned menu item. In anotherapproach, rather than scaling down the planned menu item, the system mayuse the knowledge of the amounts of each substance being tracked tosuggest alternative menu items that may be produced with the availableingredients.

Next, in step 460, a request for the ingredient may be generated andsent to the alternative source. As discussed above, the request for theingredient may also be provided to a replenishment system or may beadded to a replenishment list.

Next, in step 465, the alternative source is associated with the menuitem to reserve a portion of the alternative source for later use.

Following step 465, the process may end. Accordingly, the inventorysystem may be used to reserve an amount of a substance for a futureplanned use. As the specific example provided above detailed, foodstuffingredients may be reserved for future planned menu items. Substitutesand alternative sources of the reserved amount may be sought for anyinsufficient amounts.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart with exemplary steps and decisionsrelated to a process 500 for calculating and updating replenishmentdates of substances 30. Substances 30 may need to be replenished as theyare used or consumed. Determining the replenishment date may be based ononly the current amount as indicated by the sensing and reporting device20 or may be based on historical usage patterns. Tracking the amount ofthe substance 30 over time may provide an indication of the historicalusage pattern or rate.

Process 500 begins in step 505 where a usage rate of a substance may beupdated. It is to be understood that process 500 is a continuousprocess, so an existing usage rate may already exist. However, at theinitialization of the process, a default usage rate might be provided.In another exemplary approach, there may be an initialization period inwhich usage is tracked in order to provide an initial usage rate. Theusage rate may be updated by taking a reading of the amount of thesubstance 30 using sensing and reporting device 20. A usage rategenerally indicates an amount of substance 30 used over a period oftime. The period of time may vary based on implementation. The period oftime may be a standardized time, e.g., one day, one week, one month,etc., or a variable amount of time, such as the amount of time betweenaccess events. The usage rate could be adjusted by averaging it withprevious rates or by summing the removed portions over a predeterminednumber of days, e.g., 30, and dividing the summed portions by the numberof days.

Next, in step 510, an expected depletion date may be calculated based onthe current amount of the substance and the usage rate of the substance.The expected depletion date would assume that the usage rate will beconstant in the future and will calculate the number of remaining daysworth of the substance 30. The depletion date could be based on timevalues other than days, such as weeks, hours, etc.

Next, in step 515, a replenishment date may be established based on theexpected depletion date. The replenishment date does not necessarilyneed to be the expected depletion date. The replenishment date may becoordinated with the replenishment of multiple substances. For instance,there may be a standard or periodic time for reordering or shopping fora number of substances. Accordingly, it may be desirable to vary thereplenishment date from the expected depletion date.

Next, in step 520, an expected unit cost may be associated with thesubstance. The expected unit cost generally represents a cost for astandardized unit quantity, e.g., oz., pound, gram, kilogram, liter,etc. Simple conversions may be used to normalize quantities havingdifferent units. The expected unit cost may be provided by a supplier ofthe substance. If more than one source of the substance is available,the expected unit cost may be an average of the unit costs from a set ofthe suppliers. In another exemplary approach, the expected unit cost maybe an average unit cost of a set of previous replenishments of thesubstance. In still another exemplary approach, other inventory systemsmay provide the unit costs from previous replenishments. For instance, acentralized data store may contain the unit costs of previousreplenishments from a plurality of inventories.

Next, in step 525, current price and quantity data of a provider of thesubstance may be received. For instance, the inventory system may bepart of a networked communication system such that connections betweenthe system and the provider of the substance may be established in orderto receive current price and quantity data. The current price may be apromotional or sale price. The price may only be valid over a certainperiod of time. The end time for the promotion may be included with theprice and quantity data. Including the end date for the promotionalprice may facilitate the adjustments to the replenishment date.

Next, in step 530, it may be determined whether the current unit priceis less than the expected unit price. If necessary, the current unitprice and the expected unit price may be converted to a normalized orcommon unit. Thereafter, the prices may be compared using a standardinequality statement that evaluates to a Boolean true or false value.

Next, in step 535, it may be determined whether the available capacitycan accommodate the additional quantity that is currently available. Thecapacity may be based on the size of the container 16. However anyadditional storage capacity may also be considered. Even if theavailable capacity cannot immediately accommodate the additionalquantity, the capacity may be increasing over time according to theusage rate. Accordingly, the end date of the promotional price may beconsidered to determine if there will be expected capacity in time totake advantage of the promotional price.

Next, in step 540, the replenishment date may be adjusted to takeadvantage of the current price. The current price may only be availablefor a certain number of days. The replenishment date could be movedforward to fall before the conclusion of the current price.

Following step 540, the process 500 may end. Accordingly, process 500demonstrates exemplary steps to tracking usage rates and schedulingreplenishments based on diminishing quantities and current prices. It isto be understood that the scheduling of replenishments may be severedfrom the above process such that process 500 could merely track usagerates. Similarly an aspect of tracking usage rates includes the trackingof current quantities of the substance 30 stored in container 16.Another exemplary inventory system may not be concerned with usage ratesand may only be concerned with instantaneous or historical quantities.Accordingly, it is to be understood that the inventory system asdisclosed could implement these and other inventory managementfunctions.

FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart with exemplary steps and decisionsrelated to a process 600 for using a user interface in conjunction witha self reporting container 16.

Process 600 begins in step 610 where user interface waits for acontainer to initiate communication. It is to be understood that process600 is a continuous process, so operable communication with a containermay start at any time, including during the time that anothercommunication is being processed. The user interface may ignore a secondcontainer that attempts to communicate with the user interface while theuser interface is in operable communication with the first container ormay be in operable communication with both containers.

Next, in step 620, the user interface may receive data from thecontainer, such as an event notification. The event notification may bean access event. If the container is processing information locally, thedata from the container could alternatively include any of thenotifications described above in processes 200, 250, 300, 400 and 500.If the user interface is in operable communication with more than onecontainer and receives a notification from a second container before ithas completed processing a notification from a first container, thenotifications may simultaneously processed or sequentially processed, orthe user may be provided by the user interface with a notification ofthe two communications and an opportunity to select the manner ofprocessing the two communications. Additionally, the data may includedata generated as a result of a query sent to the container by the userinterface.

Next, in step 630, it is determined if the event notification is subjectto a user restriction or another form of authorization. For example, ifthe notification relates to access of a medicine, the privacy of theindividual accessing the medicine may require authorization of the userof the user interface before the user may see the event notification.

If the information is subject to a user access restriction, the userinterface may receive a user ID in step 640 and determine the authorityof the user ID in step 650. If the user ID is not authorized, the datareceived by the user interface is not processed by the user interface.Alternatively, the data may be processed by the user interface in somemanner or referred by the user interface to an inventory managementsystem for some processing without providing the restricted informationto the user.

If the information is not subject to a user restriction, or if the userID is authorized to access the information, then the user interfacedisplays information in step 660. The displayed information may beinformation about the event or the container derived from the eventnotification. The displayed information may be information derived bythe user interface or a system in communication with the user interfacefrom a calculation, look up table or other algorithm. The displayedinformation may be information derived by the user interface or a systemin communication with the user interface by the application of rules,such as those described in the processes 200, 250, 300, 400 and 500.

Next, in step 670, the user may interact with the user interface, suchas by making a query for information from the container, or providing aninput of information for the container.

Next, in step 680, the user interface may interact with the container tomake the query or provide the information to the container.

Next, in step 690, the user interface may further interact with theinventory management system to provide data to the inventory managementsystem, such as to provide the inventory management system with eventinformation used as input to any of the processes 200, 250, 300, 400 and500 or to receive and communicate to the user any notification, such asany notification in any of these processes.

Following step 690, the process 600 may end. Accordingly, process 600provides exemplary steps and decisions related to the use of a userinterface in conjunction with self reporting containers of substance.

It should be noted that process 600 can be used for activation at thefirst introduction of a new container into an inventory managementsystem or for the refilling of a container with a new substance. In thiscase, the container is first placed in operable communication with theuser interface in step 610 by causing an event that brings the containerto the attention of the user interface, such as an access event, bybringing the container into the range of a scanning device capable ofreading data from the container, or by manually entering informationinto the user interface about the container.

In step 620, the user interface receives data from the container. Thedata received from the newly introduced container may be sufficient forthe user interface to identify the container and its contents or moreinformation may be required. The data may include as little as anidentifier of the container or its contents or may include one or moreof the type of substance in the container, the capacity of thecontainer, the amount in the container, the date of filling thecontainer, an expiration date, a time for disposal after first opening,a manufacturers name, a permitted user ID, usage restrictions, rulesrelevant to the contents, and other data about the contents and its use.

In step 660, the user interface displays data about the container or theevent. The user interface may indicate that more information is neededor provide an opportunity to supplement, delete, or change anyinformation.

Next, in step 670, the user interacts with the user interface bysupplementing, editing or deleting the information provided by the userinterface or by answering questions posed by the user interface. Thissupplemental information may include one or more of the type ofsubstance in the container, the capacity of the container, the amount inthe container, the date of filling the container, an expiration date, atime for disposal after first opening, a manufacturers name, a permitteduser ID, usage restrictions, rules relevant to the contents, and otherdata about the contents and its use. The user may also pose one or morequeries to the container or provide information for storage in a datasystem associated with the container.

Next, in step 680, the user interface may interact with the container topose a query to the container, provide information for storage locallyat the container, and receive answers to any query from the container.

Next, in step 690, the user interface may interact with the inventorymanagement system to add the data about the newly added or newly filledcontainer to the inventory management system. The inventory managementsystem may supplement the information by using the information receivedfrom the user interface to access databases having more informationabout the container or the substance. For example, the inventorymanagement system may use an identifier or other data to retrieve rulesapplicable to the contents or to retrieve expiration, pricing, dosage,warnings, recalls and other data applicable to the contents of thecontainer.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow chart with exemplary steps and decisionsrelated to a process 700 for activating a container filled with thesubstance at the time of introduction a data management system.

Process 700 begins in step 710 where a user selects a container having asensor and an identifier for introduction into the data managementsystem. The container may be a new container that has not been usedpreviously in the inventory system. Alternatively, the container mayhave been used previously and may now be reintroduced, for example,because a different substance is intended to be used or the oldsubstance has been removed and fresher substance or substance withdifferent attributes is intended to be used.

In step 715, the substance is added to the container.

In step 720, the identifier associated with the container, its sensor ortransmitter, or the substance is communicated to the data processingsystem for the inventory management system.

In step 725, the identifier is associated in the inventory managementsystem with the substance. This may occur automatically through a lookup table or may be provided by the user through a user interfaceassociated with the container or with the data processing system.

In step 730, the inventory management system retrieves additional dataassociated with the identifier or with the substance, for example frominternet sources, from data read from the original packaging of thesubstance, or from data input by the user, either directly or by usingan input device, such as a scanner, a camera or a microphone.

This additional data may include condition of the substance, initialconditions for the substance, data relating to the fill process, anattribute identifier of the substance, an attribute value of thesubstance, an attribute identifier of the sensor, an attribute value ofthe sensor, an attribute identifier of the container, an attribute valueof the container, a notification trigger rule associated with thesubstance, historical information about the substance, usage instructionrelating to the substance, dietary and allergenic information relatingto the substance, purchasing information, advertising information,recipe information, supply chain information, ingredient information,usage information relating to the substance, or un-natural ingredientinformation such as information about pesticides, steroids, andfertilizers.

The additional information may include an image. The image may be apicture of the container, a picture of the user or owner of thecontainer, a picture associated with the substance, its manufacture,use, features or advantages, or an icon associated in some manner withone of the container system members. The image may be associated in thedata processing system with the container to facilitate futurecommunication of information to the user by the data processing system.

Still other types of information that may be inputted include the nameof a substance, its owner, its user or its manufacturer, a category ofsubstance, and a calendar date and/or time associated with the substanceor an event related to the substance.

FIG. 13 illustrates a flow chart with exemplary steps and decisionsrelated to a process 750 for activating a container to which atransmitter is added at the use environment.

Process 750 starts with step 760 wherein a filled container that doesnot have a sensor or identifier is selected for introduction into aninventory management system.

In step 765, a sensor and transmitter, at least one of which has anidentifier, is installed on or in the container. In step 770, theidentifier is associated with the new contents. This can be accomplishedlocally at the container if the container has user input capability orcan be accomplished by input into the data processing system for theinventory management system, for example, by direct user input or bypermitting the data processing system to scan information printed on orotherwise associated with the container by its manufacturer. In step775, the container is introduced into the use environment, permittingthe data processing system to communicate with the transmitter. It willbe appreciated that in some cases, steps 765 and 770 can occur inreverse order. It will also be appreciated that additional user inputand retrieval may be used, as described for process 700, as shown instep 780.

FIG. 14 illustrates a flow chart with exemplary steps and decisionsrelated to a process 800 for activating a container to which atransmitter is added at the time of adding substance, which is notnecessarily introduced immediately into the use environment. Forexample, process 800 may be used to activate a container of substancethat is filled by a manufacturer into a container with a sensor andtransmitter in the cover prior to shipping the container to thecustomer.

In step 810, a container is filled with a consumable substance by amanufacturer. Next, in step 815 an identifier is programmed into thesensor or transmitter in the cover that will be used with the container.Next, in step 820 the cover is installed on the container. In step 825,a database record is created by the manufacturer that associates theidentifier with the substance, the container and other information thatmay be useful for the manufacturer and a consumer. In step 830, thecontainer is acquired by a consumer. In step 835, the consumerintroduces the container into a use environment with an inventorymanagement system and the identifier is associated with the containerand the substance, such as by one of the methods previously described.In step 840, the inventory management system retrieves information aboutthe container or the substance from the manufacturer's database by usingthe identifier provided by the manufacturer.

It is anticipated that the steps of process 800 may be varied from thatdescribed above. For example, step 815 can occur before or after step810. Step 820 may occur before or after step 815 but must occur afterstep 810. Step 825 can occur at any time prior to step 840.

The present invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to the foregoing embodiments, which are merely illustrative ofthe best modes for carrying out the invention. It should be understoodby those skilled in the art that various alternatives to the embodimentsof the invention described herein may be employed in practicing theinvention without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventionas defined in the following claims. It is intended that the followingclaims define the scope of the invention and that the method andapparatus within the scope of these claims and their equivalents becovered thereby. This description of the invention should be understoodto include all novel and non-obvious combinations of elements describedherein, and claims may be presented in this or a later application toany novel and non-obvious combination of these elements. Moreover, theforegoing embodiments are illustrative, and no single feature or elementis essential to all possible combinations that may be claimed in this ora later application.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a refrigerator; a containerwithin the refrigerator for storing a substance and comprising a sensingand reporting system configured to determine an attribute of thesubstance within the container, wherein the sensing and reporting systemcomprises: a sensor configured to sense the attribute of the substance;a transmitter; and a processor in communication with the sensor and thetransmitter; and a remote device in communication with the transmitterof the sensing and reporting system; wherein, upon an access event atthe container, the processor is configured to: activate the sensor tosense the attribute of the substance and provide an indication of thesensed attribute to the processor; and activate the transmitter totransmit the indication of the sensed attribute to the remote device. 2.The system of claim 1, wherein the attribute is an amount of substancewithin the container.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensing andreporting system further comprises a memory storage device which holdsat least one element of data, wherein, upon an access event at thecontainer, the processor is configured to activate the transmitter tofurther transmit the at least one element of data to the remote device.4. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one element of dataincludes at least one of: an indication of a prior amount of thesubstance within the container; an indication of a chemical component ofthe substance within the container; a time that the container was firstopened by a user; a time that the container was last opened; a time thatthe container was first filled with substance; a name of a producer ofthe substance within the container; a trade name of the substance withinthe container; a generic name of the substance within the container; anidentifier of a processing facility that processed the substance withinthe container; a batch number of the substance within the container; aprocessing date of the substance within the container; an indication ofa nutritional attribute of the substance within the container; anindication of a presence of allergens associated with the substancewithin the container; a lookup table mapping the indication of thesensed attribute to the amount of the substance within the container; anindication of a physical dimension of the container; a history of theamounts of the substance within the container; a control parameter foran accessory module; an indication of a dosage of the substance withinthe container; an indication of an ideal environmental condition of thesubstance within the container; information about a physicalcharacteristic of the substance within the container; an indication of apermitted user of the substance within the container; and an output froman additional sensor.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensing andreporting system further includes a memory storage device which storesan identifier uniquely identifying the container, wherein, upon anaccess event at the container, the processor is configured to activatethe transmitter to further transmit the identifier to the remote device.6. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensing and reporting systemfurther includes a power source providing electrical power to thesensor, the transmitter, and the processor.
 7. The system of claim 1,wherein the sensing and reporting system further includes a receiver forbi-directional communication with the remote device.
 8. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the transmitter comprises a transceiver and includes areceiver for bi-directional communication with the remote device.
 9. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the sensing and reporting system includesmultiple sensors.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor isconfigured to sense a distance between the sensor and a level of thesubstance within the container.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein thesensor comprises one of an acoustic sensor, a capacitance sensor, aninfrared sensor, an inductive sensor, a resistive sensor, an evaporativegas sensor, an image sensor, a pressure sensor, a float sensor, a straingauge sensor, or a force sensor.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein thetransmitter comprises a wireless transmitter in wireless communicationwith the remote device.
 13. The system according to claim 12, whereinthe transmitter uses a standard comprising at least one of Bluetooth®,Zigbee® Wibree™, enOcean®, Z-wave®, wi-fi, and wi-max.
 14. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the container further includes at least one of a motor,an agitator, a fan, a dispenser, a dryer, a pump, a cooler, a heater, oran ozone generator.
 15. The system of claim 1, wherein the containerfurther includes an active device configured to affect the environmentinside the container.
 16. The system of claim 1, wherein the containerfurther includes a user authorization module.
 17. The system of claim 1,wherein the container further includes a common enclosure housing thesensing and reporting system.
 18. A system comprising: a refrigerator; acontainer within the refrigerator for storing a substance and comprisinga sensing and reporting system configured to determine an attribute ofthe substance within the container, wherein the sensing and reportingsystem comprises: a sensor configured to sense the attribute of thesubstance; a transmitter; and a processor in communication with thesensor and the transmitter; and a control unit in communication with thetransmitter of the sensing and reporting system, and comprising a visualdisplay and a control interface.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein thecontrol unit comprises a receiver and a transmitter for receivingcommunications from transmitter of sensing and reporting device.
 20. Thesystem of claim 18, wherein the sensing and reporting device comprisesan RFID circuit and the control unit comprises an RFID reader foractivating and communicating with the RFID circuit.
 21. The system ofclaim 18, wherein the control unit is integrated with the refrigerator.22. The system of claim 18, wherein the control unit is a standalonedevice.
 23. The system of claim 18, wherein the control interfacecomprises a keypad.
 24. The system of claim 18, wherein the visualdisplay and control interface are integrated with each other.
 25. Thesystem of claim 18, wherein control unit comprises a user interface forthe refrigerator.
 26. The system of claim 18, wherein the sensorcomprises one of an acoustic sensor, a capacitance sensor, an infraredsensor, an inductive sensor, a resistive sensor, an evaporative gassensor, an image sensor, a pressure sensor, a float sensor, a straingauge sensor, or a force sensor.
 27. The system of claim 18, wherein,upon an access event at the container, the processor is configured to:activate the sensor to sense the attribute of the substance and providean indication of the sensed attribute to the processor; and activate thetransmitter to transmit the indication of the sensed attribute to thecontrol unit.